


I Know That in My Weakness I Am Stronger

by thegalrahobbitofplantetgalilfrey



Series: The Arms of Voltron [6]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Gen, Haggar is a sadistic witch, Hurt Keith (Voltron)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-18
Updated: 2017-05-22
Packaged: 2018-11-02 04:41:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,554
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10937208
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegalrahobbitofplantetgalilfrey/pseuds/thegalrahobbitofplantetgalilfrey
Summary: What told Keith to search? Was it his Galra blood, or did something else happen? Something he can't remember?





	1. Face Down in the Desert Now

**Author's Note:**

> Heeeey! Just going to put some Kangst in here, don't mind me! Last one of this series! Chapter titles are from Brother Let Me Be Your Shelter, a song that I actually use a ridiculous amount in my fanfic.

Keith was about to insert the key into his door, but it swung open at his touch. He frowned. That was odd. He _knew_ he’d locked it when he left, and he was all the way out in the desert. Who would come all the way out here to take a few pictures of him and his dad, him and Shiro?

He hadn’t realized how much he’d missed his house until he walked in and saw the bulletin board with his pictures, a few movie tickets, other sentimental pieces of paper. But something was missing. Keith grappled with his thoughts before coming to a conclusion. All the happy memories here had been with his dad, or with a visiting Shiro. Without them… it was just a house.

But not for long. Katie would come, and he could make new memories. The two of them would figure this out, and they could make more memories. He couldn’t replace the gap of his dad. But maybe, just maybe, he could find Shiro again. He and Katie and Shiro could all be happy again. That wasn’t _too_ naïve, right?

A clattering sound echoed from the kitchen, and Keith started from his thoughts. Someone muttered something in another language. Keith pressed himself to the wall and edged closer, peering into the kitchen.

He couldn’t see clearly, but was one of the invaders wearing… robes? And armor on another? Great. His house had been invaded by renaissance festival freaks. What did they want?

“Find anything?”

“No. She’s been gone for a while.”

She? Who? There hadn’t been a she in this house since… were they talking about his mom?

“Any clue as to where she went?”

“None.”

“What are _you_ staring at?”

Keith let an undignified squeak and jumped as another person loomed behind him, easily twisting his arms behind his back and shoving him into the kitchen.

“I caught an intruder,” the one holding him grunted, “He was spying on you.”

“I’m not an intruder! This is my house!” Keith knew that he probably shouldn’t talk, especially not to sass an intruder bigger than him, who could probably snap his neck with ease.

The one in the robes grabbed his face with her clawed hands, forcing him to look at her. (or what he assumed was a her)

“Tell me, human, what happened to the last inhabitant of this house?”

“Dead,” Keith said bitterly, “Died years ago.”

“Dead?” she released his face. “Hm… Well, half the embarrassment is gone. But where is she… Unless… You. Who was your mother?”

“Why should I tell you?”

“Because if you don’t,” she gestured to the person holding Keith, “Antok will rip your arm off. Now. Who was your mother.”

“I don’t have to tell you that.”

“You don’t have a choice.”

Antok squeezed and pulled on Keith’s arm, drawing a hiss of pain.

“Who. Was. Your. Mother.”

“I don’t know! She left us.”

The woman nodded thoughtfully. “Sounds right. Your father?

“Why do you care?”

“I’m the one asking questions. Who is your father?” Antok pulled a little harder on Keith’s arm.

“Akira Kogane.”

“So you _are_ hers. Filthy half-breed.”

“Hey! What are you _talking_ about!”

“A half human… We should probably kill him. He’s just another part of the whole scandal.”

“Excuse me?!”

“Wait,” the third alien interjected, “wouldn’t it make more sense to keep him alive?”

“How so, Thace?”

The one called Thace continued. “He could be of use later on. If we ever need to have a spy on the earth, he looks like them.”

“I won’t ever help you!”

Thace gave him a look that, even in the low visibility, was very clearly a “humor me if you want to get out of this alive” look.

“If we could train him, I’m sure-”

“We are _not_ taking him back to headquarters. You’ve gone soft, Thace.”

“Maybe. But I still believe that-”

“Enough.” Her eyes glinted. “I have another purpose for him.” She produced a small vial full of some glowing blue energy.

Thace gasped. “You brought that here? Why?”

“I hoped it would lead us to the lion when we were close enough. But now…”

“But all the tests failed! None of them accepted it! They all died!”

“This one is half human. While they are an inferior species, perhaps they have some… quality to them that will help him survive.”

“I don’t understand,” Keith shouted, “Who are you people? What do you want?”

The woman turned, and, with a flick of her fingers, turned the lights on. Keith squinted, and then his eyes shot open in shock. They were all purple.

_“Unless they’re hiding something.”_

_“Something like what?”_

_Katie shrugged. “Kerberos not being safe for other scientists? Something to do with the sun that could put everybody into a panic? Aliens?_

_You got that one right, Katie,_ Keith thought ruefully, _hit that nail right on the head._

“You’re aliens!”

“We are the mighty Galra Empire, worthless human! We were old when your “civilizations” were a bunch of huts! Your puny words cannot describe us! Antok, pin him.”

Antok obligingly slammed Keith to the ground a _little_ harder than Keith thought necessary. Although he could do without the slamming altogether. Still twisting Keith’s arms behind his back, Antok moved Keith’s hair back from his neck, and the woman approached with the blue substance now poured into a syringe. Keith struggled to get free, realizing what she was going to do, but his attempts were futile.

The woman pinned his head to the ground with one hand, putting the tip of the syringe right on top of Keith’s artery.

“The beating of a human heart,” she remarked softly, a cruel smirk playing on her lips, “So frantic, like a bird’s. Your instincts won’t help you know, Halfling. You know what will happen when you are no longer are useful, yes? We’ll kill you. You’re an embarrassment to our great race. I suggest being useful for a very long time.” She took in a deep breath, seeming to enjoy this. Her yellow eyes glinted. “Don’t you love it? The fear in their eyes? The panic and the pain in their faces? I live for that and Zarkon alone.” She smiled again, and pushed the syringe into Keith’s neck, releasing the blue liquid into his neck.

Energy. Pure energy. Every vein felt as though it were on fire as well as half frozen. Everything was spinning, Antok had climbed off of him, and why did it _hurt_?! He clawed at his neck, curling into fetal position, wanting to rip out the cause of the pain, wanted to _destroy_ it.

“What did you _do_ to him?”

“You really _have_ gone soft, Thace. That was a small part of the quintessence of the blue lion. Injected into his bloodstream. If his body rejects it, he will die as he attempts to expel the poison. If he is meant for the blue lion… well, he probably wouldn’t be acting like this. And if his body gives up, lets the quintessence into his veins and learns to accept it as a part of life, well, it’ll probably be uncomfortable, but we’ll have an excellent little tracker who can find the blue lion for us.”

“Isn’t it a little… cruel, though? He’s still a child.”

Keith wanted to protest, but he decided to focus on breathing and not dying. He still felt like a microwaved potato, but the pain was dying down. He could see again, the haze that had come over his eyes subsiding. He shuddered, and then heard a sound that sent a whole new wave of shivers down his spine.

“Hey? Keith? You home?”

Katie. Oh, no. No, no, no, no. This couldn’t be happening. He wouldn’t let this happen. He couldn’t let her get hurt.

“K-K-Katie.” His voice was weak, and he knew that she couldn’t hear him. The cruel woman nodded to Thace and Antok, and they slipped out the window to get behind her. The sight gave him strength.

“Katie! Get out! It isn’t safe! Leave!”

The woman kicked him in the stomach, effectively cutting off his words. “Silence, you. Or I might decide to kill you after all.”

“Kei- argh!”

Keith’s heart sank as Antok dragged a struggling Katie in. No.

“Let me go, you ball of purple fur! I didn’t say that you could put your grubby little paws on me! I’ll move when I want to! Not when you tell me to!” Her eyes fell on Keith, still curled up on the floor. “Keith! What did they… Alright. Let me go right now so I can crush your skulls! You can’t do this to my friend, you freaks of nature!”

“What do we do with her?”

the woman shrugged. “Kill her, of course.”

Keith, barely managing to get his breath back from her kick, made a little squeaking noise of protest.

The woman glanced down at him. “On second thought… we’ll just wipe both their memories of anything involving the Galra Empire. If I kill her, it might be traumatizing and damage his puny human brain. And as of right now, we need him.” Her eyes glinted sadistically. “In fact… why don’t we erase every memory of his friends. The living ones, of course. If he believes he has no friends, he won’t ask them for help, and we can more easily take the blue lion when we find it. Yes, I believe that is the answer.”

Keith looked up, right into her glowing eyes.

“Goodnight, half-breed.” The last thing Keith saw was a ball of energy, hurtling right for him and Katie.

 

Xxx

 

Katie looked in the mirror. She could do this. She would enter the Garrison, and she would find out what had happened to her brother and father. She lifted a pair of scissors to her long hair. She was going to need a disguise.

 

Xxx

 

Keith entered the cave. His brain had been pretty messed up, but some… energy had taken over his despair, and he was going to find it. Carvings of a blue lion covered the wall, all of them a slightly different telling of the same story. A coming. An arrival.

 

 

Keith pulled all the pictures off of his bulletin board and began pinning new pictures, pictures of a lion, pictures of the canyons, of the stars. He found some yarn in a back closet and began connecting them before turning to his hoverbike outside. If he was to be ready for this arrival, he had to make sure he could get away. Learn the land. Test his limits.

 

Xxx

 

Keith fell out of the cyrosleep, Katie, no, that was Pidge, falling out next to him. He was a little disoriented, but then he remembered. Allura’s readings had said that he and Pidge had effects of druid magic on them, so it had been right into the cyro pod while they fixed the problem. Destroying his memory…

“Katie!”

Pidge was rocking back and forth on her heels, murmuring to herself, one hand covering her mouth as she stared at the wall in shock. “Keith. I remember. Oh, Keith, I’m so sorry!”

Pidge rushed to him and wrapped her arms around his waist. “I’m sorry I forgot! I’m sorry, I’m sorry!”

“Don’t be.” And for once, Keith didn’t shove a hug away.


	2. There’s a Cage Locked Around My Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bonus scene!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yah, so I thought I'd just explain how our favorite blade of marmora bros felt after that.

“Thace?”

“Antok.”

“What did we do today?”

“You were there. You saw.”

Antok held out trembling hands. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I shouldn’t feel this way. I am a soldier of the Galra Empire.”

“You’re also your own person. What do you think?”

“What we did today… attacking that child, forcing him into that… It was wrong. I shouldn’t’ve helped. He was innocent, the only “crime” his birth. What did I do? Why do I feel like this?”

Thace put a hand on Antok’s shoulder. “What you are feeling is guilt. What we did today was indeed wrong.”

“He was just a child,” Antok whispered, “Haggar may feel delight in other’s pain and fear, but… I hate it. I don’t want to do this anymore.”

Thace glanced around furtively before leaning in closer to his companion. “Tell me, Antok. Have you ever heard of the Blade of Marmora?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And thus, Antok joined the blade. Yay. And then, after joining the blade, he continued on to twist Keith's arms behind his back and slam him into the ground some more.


	3. Bonus Scene 2: Watch out Voltron

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is for riverside_musings because, yeah, I should have done this AGES ago.

"Wait, you two  _knew_ each other? Before Voltron?"

"Yes, Lance, I don't know why you find this so hard to believe."

Lance's voice turned to a hushed whisper. "Did... did you two have... a thing?"

Pidge choked on her drink. "What? No! That's gross! What is your problem, Lance?!"

He shrugged. "Just a question." He turned to Keith. "Was she hot when she looked like a girl?"

It was Keith's turn to choke. "Lance!"

"What? It's a valid question!"

"No! It's not!" He resumed speed eating his food goo, avoiding both Lance and Pidge's eyes.

"Well?"

"Well what?"

"Well was she hot," Lance asked exasperatedly, "I wasn't kidding!"

Pidge tilted her head at Keith. "Was I? Was I pretty?"

"Um..."

"Why do you have to think about it? Was she pretty, or not?"

"Yeah!"

"What's the right answer here?! I don't know what you want!"

"The truth, moron!"

"I don't know! I didn't really think about it!"

"How do you  _not_ think about that when you spend lots of time with a girl? You didn't notice at all?"

"I was a little busy trying not to fail class!"

"Come on, you had to notice a  _little_."

"Fine! She was pretty!"

Pidge smiled radiantly. "Really?"

"Yes."

"Ooo," Lance grinned, "Someone's in  _loooove_!"

Keith groaned and left the room.

xxx

"Hey, Pidge! Want to see something cool?"

Pidge scooted over to Hunk. "Sure."

"Okay." He grabbed her laptop and plugged it into some machine. "So, I figured out how to wirelessly wire this machine to the P.A., and look!" Music began to play from the speakers. "We can listen to music!"

"Wow. Hold on can I play something real quick? And can you hook it up to just one set of speakers?"

"Yeah, sure. Which one?"

"Training deck."

"Okay. select your song." 

Pidge did with a massive grin on her face.

It only took a few minutes and then Keith stormed in. "Not funny, Pidge!"

she giggled. "I think it is."

"What did she do?"

Keith sighed. "Come on."

Hunk followed Keith to the training deck. he opened the door, and Cotton Eyed Joe blared from the speakers.

"Not funny, Pidge."

"It was Hunk's fault, blame him!"

"Wait, what? What did I do?"

Pidge hid herself behind Hunk. "He  _hates_ this song. Fine. Let's try..." she typed something else on her laptop and a different country song played.

"I'm... going... to... _kill_... you."

"Hunk, protect me!" Pidge shrieked with laughter while Keith attempted to grab her. Hunk smiled. he was slightly sad that Pidge had started to hang out with Keith more than him, but she deserved to be happy, and so did Keith.

Pidge looked at Hunk. He seemed to have gotten sadder. They couldn't have that. "Come on, Hunk! She linked arms with him and attempted to dance to the music. "Keith taught me how to do this, let's see if I remember it!" Hunk danced along, butchering all the steps, while Keith doubled over from laughter. And when the others came to find them, they were all sitting on the floor, laughing, together, a team.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to just do Lance and Hunk, since they only ever knew Pidge as Pidge, and knew her on earth. And the shock of, wow, Katie had friends before us, would probably only apply to them. Also because I just can't think of anything for anyone else.


End file.
